Winter Safety

Posted on December 11, 2024

When winter comes, birds, and some people, fly south seeking warmer climes: “give me the splendid silent sun with all his full beams dazzling” as Walt Whitman once wrote.

The thing about winter is that it’s cold, and cold weather can affect our health. There are increased risks of viruses, not least because we are likely to spend more time inside with other people meaning flu, coughs, and colds are more easily spread. The cold narrows blood vessels which can affect the heart; prolonged exposure to cold affects internal body temperature increasing risk of hypothermia, chilblains and frostbite. Even slippery pavements and roads are more hazardous caused by plunging temperatures – wear good shoes and drive slower.

Cold’s bodily impacts

In 2022, a BBC journalist took part in an experiment exploring the impact cold homes can have on our health spending time inside at 10 degrees Celsius, the temperature that many who cannot afford to turn the heating up – or even on – have to endure.

As the journalist pointed out, it’s not freezing, but prolonged exposure can have an effect on the brain, heart and lungs. He discovered that 18°C is the ‘tipping point’ when the body starts working to protect the core temperature – 37°C. As the temperature drops, hairs on the limbs stand on end to help with insulation; fingers and toes turn white as the blood moves to protect vital organs. At 11.5°C he felt the shivers as his body tried to generate heat.

In his 30 minutes at 10°C, as his body worked to keep his core temperature steady, it was revealed that blood flow to his brain fell by 20% making cognition slower; his rate of breathing increased by a third, his heart rate was up, the mean arterial blood pressure increased and his body burned more carbs.

With the heart working harder and blood pressure rising it’s creating the conditions for increased risk of stroke of heart attack, while at the same time the blood is becoming thicker adding to the risk of blockages. This is why heart attacks are more common in the winter.

Tips to stay warm

There are several easy preventative measures, including wearing clothes that provide good insulation, like those made from wool. Gloves and warm socks are more important than a hat, but a woolly one of those will obviously help. It’s important to move and not just sit still, maybe staring at the TV even if you are streaming a warm fire place!

Diet is key too. Upping your carbohydrate intake is a good tip to provide extra energy to stay warm though involuntary thermogenesis – shivering. And the healthier the carb the better, the slow release means longer lasting.

And stay hydrated. You might not think you need a drink, neither sweating or feeling thirsty, so drinking less water actually might cause a problem. While tea and coffee are warming they contain caffeine which is a diuretic, so consider going decaf or drink herbal and fruit teas or hot water and lemon.

Workplace control measures

The Health and Safety Executive has guidance on temperature too, of course. When it comes to working in cold temperatures, the Approved Code of Practice on the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations suggests the minimum for an indoor workplace should normally be at least 16°C or 13°C if much of the work involves rigorous physical effort.

HSE also offers practical steps to take to keep people as comfortable as possible when working in the cold and they are largely common sense measures. This is all about one of my favourite words – control. Controlling the task, ie: reducing cold exposure time and the amount of work and the rate of work; controlling the clothes – staff being able to adapt to their conditions by wearing adequate insulation or layering; providing gloves or hats etc.

It’s also providing adequate workplace heating, such as portable heaters, to ensure work areas are warm enough when they are occupied; reducing draughts while still keeping adequate ventilation; provide insulating floor coverings or special footwear when workers have to stand for long periods on cold floors; and providing appropriate protective clothing for cold environments.

Changing work systems to limit exposure by introducing systems such as flexible working patterns or job rotation and allowing workers to have hot drinks or warm up in heated areas is also good practice.

Ensuring workplace thermal comfort is vital in helping to prevent accidents, because people feeling uncomfortably cold (or hot) are more likely to behave unsafely. As mentioned above, the ability to make decisions and/or perform manual tasks deteriorates, maybe through shortcutting, or a negative impact on mental gymnastics increasing the risk of errors.

Warm nose best

Infections, such as flu, pneumonia and colds often thrive in the winter months. Cold also makes it easier for viruses to survive outside the body and cold air contains less virus-trapping moisture. And breathing in cold air affects how the immune system works in the nose making it less active and allowing a virus to grow better within the nasal cavity. The best advice I’ve ever had from a doctor is make sure your nose is warm!

And remember this: morale can also be lower when it’s cold and so as the famous Japanese proverb says: “One kind word can warm three winter months.”

Stay warm, stay safe and if you need any advice on this subject or have any other health and safety issues please call us today on 0151 545 0497.